Speaking the Knowledge
by EstiRose
Summary: He speaks the knowledge so the knowledge isn't lost. Kamen Rider W. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: "Phillip" was how his name was spelled when I started this series of stories. Also, slightly AU.

**Speaking the Knowledge  
****by Estirose****  
c 2009**

"Matsuyama. Capital of Ehime prefecture. Current city population: 515,282, not including temporary residents. Famous attractions: Dogo Onsen, Matsuyama Castle. Eight of the eighty-eight temples are there."

He reads the words that he recites, not so much out of the book that he carries, but the words that come out of the recesses of his brain. He doesn't really even need the book that much, but it makes it easier to focus and do his research and pull the information that he needs. Today, his subject of exploration is the city of Matsuyama in Ehime prefecture; he was investigating dangos before that and was pulled into the side research as he always did. He does not feel complete – the information does not feel complete – unless it is spoken. Even if nobody hears it besides himself, or Shoutarou, or whoever is nearby.

So, he shifts from topic to topic like a butterfly, speaking so that the knowledge is spoken out loud, so it is not lost in the library that only he can access. He knows, ideally, that the knowledge wants to be heard; but for some reason, most people have little patience for it, except those who want to exploit the knowledge.

He can feel the knowledge wanting to flood from his brain to Shoutarou's; this, he instinctively knows would be bad. He has studied Shoutarou as if his life depended on it; in fact, being able to meld with his partner for W is critical to his continued existence. Shoutarou would be shocked to know how much Phillip knows about him, from official papers to what he eats. Shoutarou is easy to research because he is in some ways part of Phillip now; he is part of the Library now in ways that Phillip doesn't want to explain to him. Shoutarou is not stupid; he'll eventually figure it out.

But he has to accept the knowledge in his brain just like Phillip does, or it will harm him. Phillip knows this because the knowledge knows this. The knowledge knows that to flood an unwilling soul would be to murder that soul, to destroy it utterly. But it still tries, because the knowledge wants to be one with Shoutarou, too. It wants him to accept it, be a true part of its library, one of its curators and custodians. One of the few researchers it allows. It isn't content with coming through Phillip's mouth, through the scribblings Phillip makes as he writes the knowledge down so that Shoutarou can see it. So that another person can see it. It wants to be one with Shoutarou too.

Which is why Phillip carefully shields his partner from the knowledge. Best to let Shoutarou use him as a walking search engine, let Shoutarou figure it out himself. Best to let only one voice speak the knowledge, one set of hands write it down. Best to let Shoutarou think he's weird because he can't stop speaking. The knowledge cannot stop speaking.

"Matsuyama has three sister cities. Sacramento, California, United States. Freiburg, Germany. Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Sacramento is the capitol of California. Sacramento has a school named Matsuyama Elementary School; Sacramento has sixty-eight elementary schools…."

Phillip is at home with the knowledge, and speaks it willingly. Maybe someday, Shoutarou will too.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: This storyline is slightly AU from canon; it was written early enough that "Phillip" was the spelling-of-the-moment, and under the assumption that the two of them were connected at all times.

**Bang Head At Search  
****By Estirose****  
C 2009**

_Maku is a language spoken in South America. There are about 100 native speakers._

Shoutarou groaned as the random fact fluttered about in his head. He was sure he'd never heard of the language before. Nor did it have any connection to what Akiko was shouting at him. What was he turning into, a henpecked husband?

His brain helpfully informed him that there were 580,000 results on the phrase.

"Shut up," he muttered at it, earning him a glare from Akiko. She was ruining his image anyway. Since when did hardboiled detectives have nagging girls as bosses?

"I'm turning into Phillip," he muttered.

"I hope not," she said, before flouncing off. He took the respite to head over to the hidden door to Phillip's domain; perhaps Phillip had picked up the conversation and relayed the number of results to him telepathically. It wasn't as if he didn't do that half the time when relaying results from the Gaia Library.

To his somewhat relief, the notes on the nearest board were on Moscow, and Phillip was muttering about that city.

"Yo, Phillip," Shoutarou called. "Did you just run a search on henpecked husbands?"

"No," Phillip said, cocking his head. "Do you want me to research the topic?" But there was a sparkle in his eyes; Shotarou had to wonder if he was kidding.

"I want to know why I'm suddenly getting search results in my head," Shoutarou told him.

"Perhaps the Library is welcoming you," Phillip said, closing his book.

"I don't want to be welcomed into the Library," Shoutarou said sharply. He wondered if he should bang his hrad against the wall.

Somewhere inside, he knew that there were over a million results on the phrase. He started literally banging his head on the wall, only vaguely aware of Phillip arriving at his side. "What?" He practically barked.

Phillip handed him a glass of water and some aspirin. "It gets easier," he said.

"I want it out of my head," Shotarou snarled.

Phillip cocked his head and then nodded.

There were thirty-four million results on the name Phillip. Taking the aspirin and water from Phillip, he stalked back to his office.


	3. Chapter 3

**Compromising With The Library  
by Estirose  
c 2009**

Phillip took refuge in the library when he was upset. And for the moment, he was… well, not upset, but perturbed. Enough that his researching was scattered all over the place.

The library was beginning to invade Shotarou's mind, despite his efforts. Despite his pleadings. And Shotarou's reaction had been clear: he didn't want it.

Phillip had two choices: To convince the library to let Shotarou go, or convince Shotarou that he should welcome the library into his mind. He would have to research, figure out which one was the better alternative.

He personally liked to be connected to the library. To have all that information at his fingertips… well, mind. Letting people know things was fun and interesting… knowing things even more.

But Shotarou was not like him. Shotarou was only interested in knowledge when it helped him solve cases. So he didn't appreciate having the library with him as Phillip did. If Phillip could convince him that it would help him solve cases once W was no longer needed… that might be easiest. Certainly, he'd have to filter out information, the library wouldn't be happy… but it might be a good compromise.

Besides, its other choice was losing Shotarou entirely, and the knowledge didn't want to lose people. To make Shotarou a user instead of a custodian… it might be a reasonable compromise. He would go into it later, when Shotarou didn't need him. Commune with the library, convince it. Then convince Shotarou that it was the best thing for him.

That would be difficult, but probably the best course of action. Shotarou could be stubborn, but Phillip could be stubborn too. He'd convince the library. And then he'd convince Shotarou.

And in the meantime, he'd research it and make his plans even better. Starting with a review of the person – the being – that was Hidari Shotarou.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Note:**__ Sorry for the delay! I haven't been inspired on this story/story collection for a while._

_As a reminder, this storyline is rather AU, and therefore doesn't quite follow continuity._

**A Life on Whiteboard  
by Estirose**

"Philip, what are you doing?" Shotarou asked, as his partner scribbled things. Things that wouldn't have been so scary had they not, say, been half of his life splashed over Philip's whiteboards. Why in the hell he was the subject of Philip's investigations, he didn't know - he would have thought that Philip would have 'investigated' him a year ago, when they became Double, not now.

"Reviewing." Philip wasn't even paying attention to him.

"My life?" Shotarou asked, coming up to stand beside his partner, unable to believe his eyes. "Why?"

"It was necessary," Philip told him, not even paying much attention to him.

"Philip, if this isn't all erased by the time she arrives-" He hated to threaten his partner, but he could do without Philip spilling all of his intimate secrets on his whiteboards. He was sure there was something about his sex life in there somewhere. Like off to the left.

But he knew better than to deal with a pissed-off partner with an erased whiteboard. He'd discovered that far too quickly, the first time he got impatient with Philip's scribblings, and Philip had refused to do any lookups - well, other than Philip's own - for two weeks, as well as barely talking to Shotarou in general.

"Hmm," was all Philip said, completely absorbed in the facts of Shotarou's life.

And then he was writing something about henpecked husbands, and Shotarou was reminded of two days before, when it seemed like he was personally connected to a search engine. Not that he was totally free of the whole thing - his brain was yammering something about some million results for the phrase "sex life" and a bit less for some terms that he was seeing on Philip's boards that he really didn't want to talk about, even to his partner.

"This doesn't have anything to do with the search results in my head, does it?" he asked tiredly. He hoped it didn't; he hoped it hadn't triggered Philip's obsessive side.

"Excellent, Shotarou," Philip said, and Shotarou could have done without his partner smiling. He hoped he'd misheard, or his partner had. "I'm tracing the connection between you and the Gaia Library."

"You... what?" Shotarou asked. "You're doing what? Isn't that because you're my partner or something?" Damn. Well, at least Philip was trying, though he still wished he knew why certain things were on the board. "And what does my sex life have to do with it?"

"I had to review your life to see what was making you open to the Library," Philip said, closing his book to Shotarou's relief. "If necessary, the best route to take to help you integrate with it."

"I... what... Philip, I'm not going to integrate with the damn library!" Shotarou exclaimed. That was Philip's job, not his. He was not going to turn into some weirdo with a fetish for research.

He was not going to turn into the person Philip had been when they'd first met.

"I'm hoping," Philip said, "That you have a choice." Damn once again. His partner was serious. Something was going on and even Philip might not be able to stop it.

A chill ran through him.

"Just... get my life off of your whiteboards," Shotarou said. "We'll figure it out later... we have a new case. A Dopant on the loose."

As he turned, though, the world went white, and he was sure he saw a library behind his eyes as he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Bickering With The Books**  
**by Estirose**

Philip gave the bookshelves a mental shove, looking for his partner's mental presence in the infinite Library. If he didn't hurry, there would be nothing left of the being that was his partner, Shotarou; instead, the Library would inhabit his body. The Library was so desperate to have a second Guardian that it didn't care that Shotarou had his own life, and he was quite sure that their opponents would be just as happily use his partner's mindless shell as a source of new GaiaMemories.

He had, at least, enough control over the Library and enough of a bond with Shotarou that finding his partner was a relatively quick task. Shotarou lay in the library unconscious, books flying into him. As Philip watched, a row of books separated from a bookshelf and waited for an opening.

An opening Philip was not going to give. Reaching into their bond, Philip wrenched a block into place, gazing at his partner as Shotarou mumbled something about "Eightman" and the books fluttered around his prone form.

"Shotarou... " he said, giving his partner a mental nudge through their link, as well as giving his Library-form a nudge. Shotarou muttered something and turned over. Nearby, a book titled "Glass" banged on the barrier that Philip had erected, trying to reach Shotarou's mind. Philip wondered absently about how much of Shotarou's mind and personality was left, but there was time to determine that.

"Hot..." Shotarou said, opening his eyes slightly and squinting at Philip. "Fang?"

Philip's concentration briefly slipped at the memory of how he went out of control that first night, but he grasped "Glass" before it could dive into Shotarou. The book struggled in his hand, trying to reach his partner.

"You're in the Library," he said mildly.

"It's burning," Shotarou said, and Philip wondered if he was feeling the Library's anger or whether it was a side effect of what was happening to him. He vaguely recalled that the Library had tried to overwhelm him, too, when he came in, and only who - what he was had protected him. Maybe losing the memories of his family had saved his life.

The Library had been so lonely in ways - so eager - that both of them were lucky that their enemies had not found a way in yet. Not that it would have been easy for them, either, but they could go back to producing GaiaMemories, and they could eventually find a way to bar him from the Library as well.

Maybe it was best that Shotarou was becoming part of it. It did allow few, but those it did allow, it embraced fiercely.

"Shotarou. Imagine closing a book. Do it."

Shotarou twitched, but Philip could feel a barrier settling down underneath his own. As he smiled, a book hit him over the head. He grabbed it with his other hand. "Censorship," he read. But before he could decide what to do with it, he was being pummeled by other books - he could see "Actuarial Science", "Matsuyama", and "Sacramento" joining in the fray.

The Library was serious about its new inhabitant, it seemed, but not as serious as Philip.

"Still hot..." his partner muttered.

"We'll get away from the heat, Shotarou," Philip said. "But you have to open your eyes..."

He saw Shotarou wince, but his partner gradually opened his eyes. "The Gaia Library... why am I here? Wait... you were trying to stop it."

"Yes." He saw no reason to elaborate. Besides, he was still being pummeled by an entire bookshelf.

"Why is it running about in my head?" Shotarou said, glaring at Philip. "I don't want it in my head."

Philip knew Shotarou would fly off the handle if he knew that he was going to be with the Library as long as he was with Philip, maybe longer. "It seems, Shotarou, that the Library doesn't want to give you a choice in the matter. "However, I could teach you how to control the Library so it doesn't intrude on your life."

Shotarou winced again. "Then do it."

"At least not more than it already has." He figured he'd explain the fact that Shotarou might be missing parts of himself once they were back in the physical world. "You have your own gate to the Library. Now that you've closed the book, we'll exit the library."

That might be easier said than done, but at least they could try. He helped his partner up as books swirled around Shotarou - and what was that book on Human Sexuality trying to show him? - and gave him a smile. "Now, all you have to do is open your eyes. Outside. Think of your body, think of opening your eyes to see the roof of the garage..."

"Think of my body..." Shotarou closed his eyes. Philip wasn't sure if that was going to work, but Shotarou was contrary enough that it did. Soon, his partner was gone, and Philip, glaring at the books, faded out as well.

He awoke back in the garage, seeing Shotarou sit up from his inadvertent adventure in the Gaia Library, but didn't get to say anything before Akiko banged the door open. "He's struck again!" she called, her voice higher-decibeled than usual. "The dopant!"

"What dopant?" Shotarou asked, and Philip could see his confusion.


End file.
